The Hendersons opens in 1914 just before the outbreak of World War I and concludes in 1919. It follows the lives of the eponymous Henderson family: William, a Sheffield barber, his wife, Lydia, and his four children, Matthew, Joe, Bob and Amy. William being a fervent churchman, lay preacher and pacifist, opposes the church’s call to arms and he and the rest of the family find themselves in a different kind of war, one which appears to have no end.